S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 102

Love Murderer 09 – Old Story

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While Bao Zheng drove his big Jeep, Gongsun sat in the front, and Zhan Zhao hugged Lilia and sat in the back seat with Bai Yutang and Bai Chi.

“Bao Sir, why is it getting more remote?” Gongsun asked Bao Zheng, “Also, why won’t you tell us where we are going?”

Bao Zheng glanced at him helplessly, then saw the four pairs of curious eyes in the rear-view mirror, and helplessly said, “I can’t tell you, you will know when we arrive.”

Everyone looked at each other. In Zhan Zhao’s arms, Lilia yawned, she seemed to be a little sleepy. She flicked her tail and began to lick her fur before going to sleep.

The car drove all the way to a road on the outskirts of S City that was dark at night. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao looked at each other. Bai Chi felt that the night wind was a bit cold, so he pulled up his collar and asked, “Bao Sir? Are we going to a grave?”

Bao Zheng gave him a blank look, and stopped the car helplessly, “Here is the place.”

Everyone glanced at each other, and looked at the gloomy suburban road and dark forest.

Bao Zheng held a cigarette, took out a flashlight, gave Gongsun a second one, and said, “Follow me.”

The group of people were dumbfounded, and got out of the car. Gongsun calmly stopped Bao Zheng, who was about to enter the woods, and said, “Wait a minute.”

Bao Zheng stopped and looked at him inexplicably. Gongsun squinted at Bao Zheng, and stretched his hand out to pinch his face.

Bao Zheng rubbed his face and looked at him dumbfoundedly. He saw Gongsun looking at his fingers. There was no black paint, and there was no sign of loose skin. Zhan Zhao hugged Lilia and leaned over, “Is he a real person?”

“You’re still making trouble.” Bao Zheng glared at the two of them, “Come with me!” After he spoke, he turned on the flashlight and walked into the woods.

The four of them glanced at each other and quickly followed.

Bao Zheng walked in front, Zhan Zhao and Bai Chi walked in the middle next to Gongsun, and Bai Yutang followed behind with the flashlight.

As everyone walked forward, they heard an unknown animal calling in the distance, and there was a strange grunting sound. Zhan Zhao glanced at Bai Yutang, and then looked at his gun holster.

Bai Yutang couldn’t laugh or cry, but he pulled out the gun and held it in his hand.

After a few more steps, the animal sounds became clear, and it sounded like a dog barking — Was there a dog nearby?

Everyone looked at each other. After walking for a while, there was light in front of them, as well as the sound of people talking.

Pulling aside the last of the small bushes, their eyes lit up and they saw a huge open space in the middle of the woods. There was a bonfire burning in the middle, and two tents pitched nearby. There were barbeques by the bonfire, and many people were already sitting there, while the twins were grilling.

Zhao Zhen, Bai Yunwen, and Bai Chi’s father, Bai Feng, sat together, drinking beer and chatting. Zhao Zhen said something and they all laughed. Lison was lying on the side, and there was a huge black dog with him… it should be the legendary Tibetan mastiff.

On the side, Zhan Qitian and Bai Jintang were sitting on the ground chatting, each holding a beer in their hands. The mothers from the two families were helping the twins prepare the ingredients for the barbeque.

Bao Zheng walked over, and Bai Yunwen looked up at him, “So late?”

Bao Zheng shrugged, “I still have a job.” After he spoke, he walked over and patted Bai Jintang on the shoulder, then sat next to him and Zhan Qitian.

Looking at Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao, and the others, the expression on their faces was wonderful.

Bai Yunwen looked up and saw that Bai Yutang was still holding his gun in his hand, and he laughed, “Yutang, what, your instinct to catch a thief came out?”

Bai Yutang blushed and put away his gun. The four of them turned to look at Bao Zheng. They saw him drinking beer with a mischievous look on his face. It was obvious that he deliberately scared them, otherwise it would have been enough for him to say that it was a family picnic.

“Meow…” At that time, Zhan Zhao felt that something fluffy was rubbing against him, and he looked down. Luban, who hadn’t seen him for many days, looked up at him. No… to be precise, he was looking at Lilia.

“Ah, Luban!” Bai Chi picked up Luban and pet his head.

Not far away, Lisbon let out a few low growls. It was obvious that Lisbon loved Bai Chi a lot, and was a little jealous.

Everyone relaxed, and after the young ones obediently greeted everyone, they found a place to sit down.

Gongsun was next to Bai Jintang, and took his beer. Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao went to see the Tibetan mastiff.

The Tibetan mastiff is quite friendly. Although it is huge, next to Lisbon, it’s really not obvious.

Lilia was apparently frightened by Lisbon and the Tibetan mastiff, and she hurriedly climbed onto Zhan Zhao’s shoulders, before finally being handed over to Zhan Zhao’s mother, who carried her away. Luban hurriedly followed.

“What’s the name of this dog?” Bai Yutang raised his hand and pet the back of the Tibetan mastiff’s neck. The Tibetan mastiff let out a few cheery noises, obviously in a good mood.

“It’s Victor.” Zhan Qitian replied.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other, thinking that Lisbon’s name is very good, and that Victor is even better, so he might as well call them Hugo. However, both of them understood that Bai Yunwen and Zhan Qitian’s favourite book was 《Les Miserables》, yet they didn’t name them Jean Valjean, which was already saving it’s face.

As if seeing the thoughts of those two, Bai Feng smiled, “It’s a female, even if it wasn’t Victor, it would be Cosette.” (Angel: 《Les Miserables》was written by Victor Hugo, and the main characters are Jean Valjean and Cosette.)

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned at the same time — ‘Her name is Victor? It’s too wicked, where did the ‘ria’ go?” (Angel: This one really made me use my brain. They are saying that since it is a girl, shouldn’t it be Victoria instead of Victor.)

“Okay, sit down everyone.” Mother Bai walked over with the cooked food and asked the ones that just showed up, “Have you not eaten yet?”

“En.” Zhan Zhao squinted, took the food, and started eating, As expected, Mother Bai’s cooking skilled are more pure than Bai Yutang’s!

“Dad?” Bai Chi was a little nervous seeing Bai Feng, and asked, “Why are you here?”

Bai Feng looked at him, and patted him on the shoulder, “Zhao Zhen asked me to come.”

Bai Chi became even more nervous. He looked at Zhao Zhen, and then at Bai Feng, “You… you know each other?”

Bai Feng laughed, “We have known each other for a long time.”

Bai Chi’s face blushed, and he thought to himself, ‘Father doesn’t know anything, or he knows everything. But that’s not right, because with his character and personality, he should have cursed at him a long time ago. Why doesn’t he seem to be angry today?’

On the side, Zhao Zhen raised the corner of his mouth. Bai Yutang glanced at him and raised his eyebrows, and Zhan Zhao smiled slyly.

“Let’s eat.” Bai Feng handed over the food that was handed to him by Mother Bai to Bai Chi, who felt awkward, “Don’t think about it. Old Bao said that you did a good job. What a good kid, you really don’t shame me.”

Bai Chi lowered his head to eat. His eyes were red, as this was the first time his father has said that he was not ashamed because of him.

Afterwards, Gongsun and the other sat down, and the group formed a circle. Gongsun suddenly appeared next to Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao, who were trying to put food in their mouths, “Sigh, Lao Bao and laobao sound almost the same…” (Angel: I left these ones as their pinyin, as it didn’t make sense to change them to English. Lao Bao is Old Bao, whereas laobao is old bustard, the name given to the proprietress of a brothel. The two ‘bao’s have different tones, but the lao is the same for both.)

“Cough…” The two choked at the same time, and they coughed while hitting their chests.

When the four of them were full, everyone ate chicken wings and drank some beer. Bai Yutang looked at Bao Zheng and then at Bai Yunwen, “Dad… Why come here to camp?”

“I originally wanted to tell you something.” Bai Yunwen said, “I wanted to come here too… Your mother said that you have all been working very hard recently, so it’s better to come out, gather, and talk while eating, which is more interesting.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, a little curious about what their parents wanted to tell them.

“I looked at the list of stolen items from the museum, and thought about something that happened a long time ago. I discussed it with Yunwen and the others, and I thought that it may be related to an old case.” Bao Zheng said, “For this case, I worked with your father and your third uncle, so it’s better for everyone to talk about it together.”

“What case?” Zhan Zhao was curious, “It has something to do with the stolen items?”

Zhan Qitian smiled slightly, “It’s a love story.”

Bai Chi and Gongsun were curious, and asked, “A love story?”

“The story goes like this.” Bai Yunwen said, “It happened almost 20 years ago. At that time, a series of theft cases occurred. Most of the stolen items were artworks and books, and they were all related to vampires.”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and felt that it was indeed similar to the current case.

“There was no 《Twilight》 at the time.” Bai Feng smiled, “We didn’t take these things seriously at first, and we didn’t think that they were connected. Later, there was a murder.”

“Murder?” Both Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were a little surprised.

“Many people died in a row. Their necks were bitten and there was too much blood loss.” Zhan Qitian said lightly.

Bai Chi felt cold at the base of his neck and asked, “Vampire?”

Bai Yunwen nodded, “Most of the assaulted were young and beautiful women. Their necks were twisted, their veins were bitten, and their blood was sucked… exactly the same as what was described in the book.”

“That…” Bai Yutang interrupted Bai Yunwen and asked, “Isn’t that the plot of the novel? I don’t believe that.”

“I don’t believe that there are vampires in the world either.” Bao Zheng smiled, “Therefore, it was done by a person.”

“Vampire serial murder case?” Zhan Zhao asked, “For such a big case, I should have seen the information on it even if it was more than 20 years ago.”

“The information was destroyed by Zhao Jue.” Bao Zheng replied casually.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang frowned and asked in unison, “It is related to Zhao Jue?”

“He was involved in solving the case at the time, and later destroyed a lot of the case materials. I don’t know if it was intentional or if they just happened to be with the others.” Zhan Qitian said.

“How many people died?” Bai Yutang asked, “Has the case been solved?”

“A dozen people died. Every day, this kind of news appears in the newspapers.” Bai Yunwen shook his head, frowning.

“The case was solved.” Bai Feng said, “But we didn’t solve it.”

“Was it Zhao Jue?” Gongsun asked.

“Heh… It was not.” Bao Zheng shook his head, “It was the one who stole the vampire-related items.”

Zhan Zhao was surprised, “Isn’t the person who steals usually the murderer?”

“That’s right.” Bai Chi asked, “Isn’t it a love story? Where is the love?”

“The vampire killer went through many cities. He would kill some people in one city, then move on to the next city. Because the flow of news from other places was very inconvenient at the time, he fled across the country and was difficult to catch.” Bai Feng said, “Perhaps it was because of inexperience in the beginning, one of the earliest victims… who was Zhang Miaomiao, a young and beautiful girl, was bitten, but did not die. Although she lost a lot of blood and was frightened, she survived…”

“Zhang Miaomiao?” Zhan Zhao frowned slightly, “If you have a witness, you should be able to catch the murderer!”

Bai Yutang nodded.

“At the time, people didn’t think so.” Bai Feng smiled and shook his head, “At that time, people said that vampires were biting people, and that after being bitten, you would turn into a vampire and bite others. Zhang Miaomiao lived in a small city. At that time, she was working in a textile factory on the outskirts of the city. This experience caused her to not only lose her job, but also made her homeless.”

“She was innocent.” Bai Chi whispered, “How could she change after being bitten? Don't you have to drink vampire blood, die once, and then drink human blood to become a real vampire?”

Everyone looked at him. Bai Chi blushed and smiled, bowing his head to take a sip of his drink.

“Zhang Miaomiao had a childhood sweetheart.” Zhan Qitian continued, “His name is Xu Tian. He took Zhang Miaomiao to another city, and allowed her to stay at home as he went out and worked to support her… After a year living like this, Zhang Miaomiao still had nightmares every night… According to her, she was indeed bitten.”

“She was really bitten?” Bai Yutang was surprised.

“That’s right, she was bitten.” Bai Yunwen nodded, “She was bitten by a man with fangs.”

“Humans have fangs that can tear blood vessels?” Zhan Zhao frowned.

“The human facial structure shouldn’t have such a bite force.” Gongsun said.

“What’s more coincidental is… in the city where Zhang Miaomiao and Xu Tian lived, more cases happened.” Bao Zheng said, “So from Xu Tian’s perspective, catching the vampire and killing him can completely relieve Zhang Miaomiao from her nightmares, cheering her up again so that she will no longer need to fear that she will become a vampire someday.”

“He’s a good man.” Gongsun nodded.

“Then he started a long journey of hunting and killing the vampire.” Zhan Qitian raised his eyebrows slightly, “This chase, lasted ten years.”

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

I love the chill vibes of this chapter, it's a big family camping/storytelling night ♥

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: May 25/26, 2021